How exactly is the Human Psyche effected by the trivial "power of suggestion?" When a thought or seed is planted into the human mind, the psyche responsively triggers a lingering product of that thought. For example, urban legends have been circulated throughout history; in doing so, a mindset is incorporated into the psyche, creating a deceitful illusion that cannot distinguish fact from fiction....

History lends us an ideal of ambidexterity: Leonardo da Vinci, Harry Truman and James Garfield were all known to be physically ambidextrous, but to what does that translate? In modern times, ambidexterity isn't a hot topic, but in fact, we are all - to a degree - ambidextrous.When we multi-task, juggle home and work, hold a phone conference and take notes simultaneously -- we are incorporat...

The following good work from a person engaged in trying to free people from cultish programming is far better than most. It demonstrates the person is aware of mind control techniques employed in influencing people. Having said that I will now try to show how this piece is in fact an evidence of SPIN or influence that the person engaged in doing it might not even personally realize. For example Ca...

What makes a common person a Serial Killer? According to research, serial killers exhibit what is known as the 'Triad of Warning Signs in Childhood.'1Indicators include:* Firestarting, invariably just for the thrill of destroying things* Cruelty to Animals: Most children can be cruel to animals, such as pulling the legs off of spiders, but future serial killers o...

From the viewpoint of a modern microbiologist, we hear the call for integration and common sense in sciences that are all too often devising separate stakes and battlements to pontificate from, on high. The 'experts' thus proving their ignorance because the result inevitably is specious ego and puffery. Truth did not divide herself up for prissy 'nerds' to prevail upon, with their massive convolut...

The endless, immeasurable brain. It does seem like more we discover about it, the more mystery we create. Perhaps the most intriguing of all is the child's brain. In certain ways, children are the most brilliant people in the world. They have the ability to absorb more information than we can conceive of as adults.Divided into two primary spheres which communicate with one other, the brain ...

Gay men are said to be usually third or further born from the same mother. You might wish to check it out sometime. I am first born therefore less likely to become gay; also both my parents and all grandparents first born as well. What is your birth order? Therefore the tendencies have next to no chance for me, which I can tell you is a good thing; because I love women.Being first born also...

Some think the world is coming to an end, they cite signs in the Revelations and current world events. The world is not going to end, in all the written history and much of course which maybe somewhat a modified version of what actually happened nothing has ever been perfect and the doom and gloomers of those past periods too were out in fill force. Most of the history we read in the history text ...

Ever felt urged to steal a piece of bubblegum from the grocery store and given in? Then you are likely training to become either a kleptomaniac or an addictive compulsive thief. Do not despair ? you're not alone. Not a threat. And there is a way out.True kleptomania is by standard practitioners of psychology viewed as a very rare condition. Lay people often confuse it with recurrent failure...

It is crucial that interviewing with helpee progress toward solutions. In addition to Exceptions and Miracle questions, Coping and Scaling questions are also useful and effective methods of moving helpees from problem talk to solution talk.Questioning Interactions:Coping Questions. Regardless of how problematic a situation may appear, it can always be worse. People do not always reco...

Solution Talk vs. Problem TalkProblem talk, of course, is talk about the problem. Solution Focus direct communications to talk about solutions. It does not try to overcome resistance to change, but rather, find where the change is already occurring in the system and accentuating it.In Solution Focus, we listen to the details communicated about the problem. This is important because i...

Again, many of us think we listen, yet we don't always "attend" to the person who is speaking to us. We are too busy doing other things! We are not being 100% attentive. The following attributes of good listening are suggestive of the skills needed. There is some overlap between the various attributes, but each suggests something different.Dynamic Listening Involves:Concentration....

Solution Focus is the brain child of Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer. This positive approach to problem resolution is rooted in the tradition of Milton Erickson's brief therapy. It assumes that small modifications in the individual's cognitive and behavioral expressions can lead to significant life changes. It further assumes that how individuals perceive events is what gives meaning to those e...

QUESTION Number 1 - Who is a Narcissist?Dear Dr. Vaknin,I read the excerpts you placed on your web site with great interest.I wanted to ask:Isn't your definition of malignant narcissism too wide? Having read it, I think that it fits my neighbours, friends, and family to a "t". Everyone seems to be a narcissist to me now!HELP!ANSWERYours is an unders...

We are all terminally ill. It is a matter of time before we all die. Aging and death remain almost as mysterious as ever. We feel awed and uncomfortable when we contemplate these twin afflictions. Indeed, the very word denoting illness contains its own best definition: dis-ease. A mental component of lack of well being must exist SUBJECTIVELY. The person must FEEL bad, must experience discomfiture...

The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1999 edition) defines empathy as:"The ability to imagine oneself in anther's place and understand the other's feelings, desires, ideas, and actions. It is a term coined in the early 20th century, equivalent to the German EinfÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â¼hlung and modelled on "sympathy." The term is used with special (but not exclusive) reference to aesthetic experience. T...

"The new narcissist is haunted not by guilt but by anxiety. He seeks not to inflict his own certainties on others but to find a meaning in life. Liberated from the superstitions of the past, he doubts even the reality of his own existence. Superficially relaxed and tolerant, he finds little use for dogmas of racial and ethnic purity but at the same time forfeits the security of group loyalties and...

Do all personality disorders have a common psychodynamic source?To what stage of personal development can we attribute this common source?Can the paths leading from that common source to each of these disorders be charted?Will positive answers to the above endow us with a new understanding of these pernicious conditions?Acute AngerAnger is a compounded phenomenon...

The brain (and, by implication, the Mind) has been compared to the latest technological innovation in every generation. The computer metaphor is now in vogue. Computer hardware metaphors were replaced by software metaphors and, lately, by (neuronal) network metaphors. Such attempts to understand by comparison are common in every field of human knowledge. Architects and mathematicians have lately c...

Storytelling has been with us since the days of campfire and besieging wild animals. It served a number of important functions: amelioration of fears, communication of vital information (regarding survival tactics and the characteristics of animals, for instance), the satisfaction of a sense of order (justice), the development of the ability to hypothesize, predict and introduce theories and so on...

INTRODUCTIONMoral values, rules, principles, and judgements are often thought of as beliefs or as true beliefs. Those who hold them to be true beliefs also annex to them a warrant or a justification (from the "real world"). Yet, it is far more reasonable to conceive of morality (ethics) as a state of mind, a mental state. It entails belief, but not necessarily true belief, or justification....

Most narcissists (75%) are men.NPD is one of a "family" of personality disorders (formerly known as "Cluster B").Other members: Borderline PD, Antisocial PD and Histrionic PD.NPD is often diagnosed with other mental health disorders ("co-morbidity") - or with substance abuse, or impulsive and reckless behaviours ("dual diagnosis").NPD is new (1980) mental health categor...

FIVE DON'T DO'SHow to Avoid the Wrath of the NarcissistNever disagree with the narcissist or contradict himNever offer him any intimacyLook awed by whatever attribute matters to him (for instance: by his professional achievements or by his good looks, or by his success with women and so on)Never remind him of life out there and if you d...

The word "cognition" is defined as "the act of knowing" or "knowledge." Cognitive skills therefore refer to those skills that make it possible for us to know.It should be noted that there is nothing that any human being knows, or can do, that he has not learned. This of course excludes natural body functions, such as breathing, as well as the reflexes, for example the involuntary closing of...

During the late '80s and early '90s, I had the opportunity to work with expert systems in real-time production environments. I found artificial intelligence, or AI, to be thoroughly intriguing. I even went so far as to write an expert system package, under Microsoft Windows, called WindExS. However, as I continued my work, and expanded into other areas of knowledge management and, eventually, remo...

In the manifestation of their narcissism, female and male narcissists, inevitably, do tend to differ. They emphasise different things. They transform different elements of their personality and of their life into the cornerstones of their disorder.Women concentrate on their body (as they do in eating disorders: Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa). They flaunt and exploit their physical ch...

I. The Three IntuitionsIA. Eidetic IntuitionsIntuition is supposed to be a form of direct access. Yet, direct access to what? Does it access directly "intuitions" (abstract objects, akin to numbers or properties - see "Bestowed Existence")? Are intuitions the objects of the mental act of Intuition? Perhaps intuition is the mind's way of interacting directly with Platonic ideals or Ph...

Sometimes I think that I have a mental health problem and that at any minute the pharmaceutical companies are going to develop a cute little green star-shaped pill to cure me of my ailment. I call it my Joan of Arc Complex. You see, I hear voices that I'm pretty sure aren't mine and they tell me to go out and do these stupid save the world projects. I call them THEY or THEM because they refuse to ...

To seek and find truth requires that we communicate within rather than without. When we communicate outside, with other people, truth is always watered down by differing perceptions, consensus, and compromise. People have different understandings.However, to reach a very effective level using this methodology there is much work that we must do to remove the impediments and obstacles that we...